Slieve Donard, highest peak (2,796 feet [852 metres]) in the Mourne Mountains at the border of Down district and Newry and Mourne district, N.Ire. It is near the coast at the northeastern end of the Mournes. Intensive glacial and periglacial action has produced bare crags, peaks, and rock debris on the lower slopes. There are some remains of an oratory erected on the summit in the 5th century by St. Domhangort (Donard), after whom the mountain is named.

Footbridge over the Shimna River, with Slieve Donard in the background, at Newcastle, Down, N.Ire.

Eric Jones

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...Uplands but reach elevations of more than 500 feet (150 metres) only in limited areas; the one important exception is the Mourne Mountains, a lovely cluster of granite summits the loftiest of which, Slieve Donard, rises to an elevation of 2,789 feet (850 metres) within 2 miles (3.2 km) of the sea. In the central region of Northern Ireland that corresponds to Scotland’s Midland Valley, an...

...the southeast is punctuated by Slieve Croob, which rises to 1,745 feet (532 metres), and culminates in the Mourne Mountains, which reach an elevation of 2,789 feet (850 metres) at Slieve Donard (Northern Ireland’s highest point) within 2 miles (3 km) of the sea. This impressive landscape of granite peaks is bounded by Carlingford Lough to the south.

...and Rostrevor. Their oval outline reflects the extent of five overlapping granite intrusions into Silurian shales in the Neogene Period (i.e., 23 to 2.6 million years ago). Slieve Donard rises to 2,789 feet (850 metres) within 2 miles of the sea. A dozen other peaks, including Slieve Bearnagh and Slieve Binnian, exceed 2,000 feet. The hills are used as reservoirs that...